The present invention generally relates to an automobile instrument panel and, more particularly, to an arrangement of various switches clustered or conglomerated on the instrument panel.
Various function-control switches used in a motor vehicle for controlling different mechanisms, such as wiper switch, headlight switch, hazard indicator switch, washer switch and others, are generally installed on an automobile instrument panel that spreads rearwardly of a stearing wheel and in front of the driver occupying the driver's seat inside the automobile. As a matter of course, care is taken to the layout of these switches to make them accessible to the driver, without the driver being forced to look aside and leave both of his or her hands from the steering wheel, and also to avoid any erroneous or unnecessary manipulation of one or some of these switches.
By way of example, the Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 54-18849, laid open to public inspection on Feb. 7, 1979, in Japan, discloses an automobile instrument panel having a meter region, where a plurality of meters, such as speed meter, tachometer, temperature indicator, fuel indicator and others, are installed, and also having a generally rectangular-contoured hood surrounding the meter region and protruding outwards from the instrument panel towards the rear side of the steering wheel. Two function-control switch assemblies, each apparently comprised of a plurality of fixed contacts and a movable contact, are housed within respective casings positioned in the recess, which is defined by the meter region and the surrounding hood, and on the respective opposite lateral sides of the steering wheel clear of the meter display as viewed from the driver's seat. The movable contact of each switch assembly is coupled to a respective slide knob positioned exteriorly of the surrounding hood and movable along a respective lateral portion of the ridge of the surrounding hood adjacent the associated switch casing for controlling the associated switch assembly.
According to this Japanese publication, the fixed contacts of both switch assemblies are so arranged one above the other within the associated switch casings that each switch assembly can be controlled by moving the associated slide knob in a direction up and down as viewed from the driver's seat or, geometrically, in a direction generally perpendicular to the longitudinal sense of the instrument panel and parallel to the plane touching the ridge of the surrounding hood.
The arrangement disclosed in the above mentioned Japanese publication appears to be convenient in that, when one of the switch assemblies is desired to be controlled, the driver with his or her hands holding the steering wheel can control it merely by extending a finger so as to reach the associated slide knob without substantially leaving his or her hand from the steering wheel.
However, when it comes to the employment of a plurality of slide knobs for each lateral side of the steering wheel together with the corresponding number of the function-control switch assemblies, the slide knobs must be positioned one above the other, as viewed from the driver, along the respective lateral portion of the ridge of the surrounding hood. The facts that each slide knob must have a stroke over which it can be moved and that the width of the hood as measured from one point on the ridge to the opposite point on the ridge in a direction across the longitudinal sense of the instrument panel render it impossible or, if not impossible, difficult to conglomerate these switch assemblies on each lateral side of the steering wheel.
In addition, in view of the fact that some of the function-control switches generally used in the automobile are not always controlled or manipulated during the turning of the steering wheel, to make all of the slide knobs movable up and down as viewed from the driver's seat appears to render the steering operation annoying.
Separately from the above mentioned Japanese publication, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,454, patented in Dec. 31, 1974, discloses the switch assemblies mounted on a generally T-shaped housing having an axial member and a pair of wing members protruding in a direction generally perpendicular to and away from the axial member. This housing is comprised of a pair of housing halves of generally identical construction so mounted on the steering column and so clamped together that the wing members are located on left-hand and right-hand sides of the steering wheel as viewed from the driver's seat. The switch assemblies are positioned around respective free end portions of the wing members for the access to the driver's hands and are not conglomerated on the instrument panel adjacent the meter region.